Case studies of eight graduate students were designed to seek indirect evidence for the role of explicit and tacit knowledge in interpreting a series of reading selections. The general hypothesis was that formal schooling would be used in nonschool and postschool situations in the following ways: (1) replicative--a situation that elicits a school input pretty much as put in; (2) associative--a situation that elicits a response that in some way is connected with the situation; (3) interpretive--a situation that requires a translation into a set of concepts; and (4) applicative--a problematic situation or predicament that calls for a solution or a hypothesis as to what could solve the problematic situation. Of the six reading selections, one was a poem and the other five were excerpts that presumably a college graduate would be able to read with "understanding." Responses by the eight graduate students varied in many ways, but it was quite clear that in every selection the four uses of their schooling were illustrated. Associations of all sorts were aroused with their sources in books that had been read, childhood experiences, and reports in the daily press. Applicational uses were fairly rare and impressive only in those instances where the graduate studies were in the same field. As to interpretation, it was quite obvious that not having had courses in that discipline revealed itself. Personal interests or ideologies tended to be the core of the interpretation and judgment rather than the contexts of the disciplines. (HOD)